Wire guide handles and pin vises are used for grasping and manipulating wire guides during medical procedures commonly involving percutaneous access to the vascular system in which the wire guide is advanced and rotated through tortuous vessels. One side mount wire guide gripping device includes a cylindrical body and a slot extending longitudinally for the entire length of the device for side loading a wire guide therein. The device further includes two biased closed jaws on either side of the slot and two compression handles for opening the jaws. A problem with this device is that when rotating the device for torquing the wire guide, one of the compression handles may be pressed inadvertently. As a result, the jaws are separated and the wire guide released. Another problem with this device is that the slot extends the entire length of the device. During use, the smooth, cylindrical proximal end of the wire guide may slide out from between the jaws, thereby exiting the slot and device.
Another wire guide grasping device is a pin vise having a handle and a slider piece including a slider block, a spring, and a thumb piece. The handle also has a stop for preventing the forward removal of the slider piece. The spring cocks the thumb piece in the slot for preventing inadvertent removal of the slider piece from the rear of the handle. The spring-loaded thumb piece may be momentarily depressed to grip the wire guide in the slot without advancing the slider piece to a locked position. Although suited for its intended purpose, the pin vise includes two pieces that are easily separated, which makes it difficult for a gloved surgeon to reassemble. The pieces are intended to be separated for side loading of a wire guide; however, the rejoining of the interlocking pieces is cumbersome. Furthermore, the pin vise includes a groove at the bottom of a T-slot which inclines upward at the forward end of the vise for wedging a wire guide therein. A thumb piece slides in the T-slot to wedge the wire guide in the upwardly inclined groove. A problem with this arrangement is that the forward moving thumb piece may kink the wire guide in the upwardly inclined groove at the beginning of the incline.